Gooch excited for WAFLW finals and by young talentFriday, August 23, 2019 - 6:58 AM - by Chris Pike

EAST Fremantle's WAFLW and Fremantle AFLW star Evie Gooch is looking forward to the upcoming finals campaign with the Sharks in a highly competitive competition but she is just as excited by the young stars coming through in Western Australia.

Gooch has been a key part of East Fremantle's WAFLW line-up in this inaugural season of the five-team competition and now with one round to go, the Sharks can finish in second position on the ladder provided they beat Claremont at Claremont Oval this Saturday morning.

While that's far from a guarantee with Claremont also sitting on a 6-5 record this season like East Fremantle and the Tigers have a chance to climb to third spot themselves, Gooch is looking forward to what lies ahead both on Saturday and in the finals.

"It's a bit of a nail-biter coming down to the end of it with our last game against Claremont," Gooch told 91.3 SportFM. 

"It's super exciting to see and obviously with it being so close on the ladder we know it's going to be a great finals series. It has been a great season already in general and now I'm excited to see what comes up over the next few weeks."

Looking back on East Fremantle's last hit out prior to the bye in Round 14 and now coming into the final round clash with Claremont, Gooch was disappointed the Sharks couldn’t get over Swan Districts but still felt it was a good hit out to help get prepared for what is to come in the finals.

"I'm still a bit cut by that one against Swans to be honest. There were plenty of positives to take from it and it wasn’t a poor game by our side," she said. 

"I just think there were a few little errors that cost us the lead towards the end credit to Swans, they really outplayed us in the width they used and pace they had on the wing with Steph Cain and then Gemma Houghton up front. 

"Looking back on it, there were some little tweaks we can make on it but we are happy with what we've got leading into finals at the moment."

Then the week prior to that, East Fremantle managed to beat a Subiaco team that is now guaranteed of finishing on top of the ladder in the first ever WAFLW season.

For Gooch and the Sharks, that was a significant confidence booster for them to now take into the finals especially if they end up playing the Lions again.

"I think that was a huge confidence boost for the girls to beat Subi," Gooch said.

"They were pretty confident going in with our structures and everything, but under the pressure of Subiaco being the ladder leaders and having that Grand Final against them when we got through against them by the skin of our teeth. 

"Getting that win on the board against them leading into finals was really big for the girls."

As for how she is feeling herself, Gooch's body is certainly feeling the effects of having already played an AFLW and now seven games of the WAFLW season but there's nothing to keep her from continuing to play and nothing that's stopping her still enjoying herself out there.

"Obviously, you have those little niggles here and there by playing in some tough games especially that one against Swans left me pretty bruised," she said. 

"But training has been good and my body feels alright, and I've been making some changes so that coming into the finals series so I feel good and ready to go. Then obviously I have to think further ahead to get ready for the pre-season with the Fremantle and leading into the AFLW season as well.

"It's a little bit of injury management of the moment but nothing to keep me from playing which is awesome."

Overall Gooch couldn’t have been more impressed with the quality of competition in the inaugural WAFLW season either and that's both with the established players across the five teams, and the exciting young talent receiving opportunities.

"You've got all that talent now in just the five teams and there's some real quality coach going on now, and the youth is coming through now too and bringing so much to the table. We have a really well-rounded competition and hopefully it just grows from there," Gooch said.

"I'm just so keen to see the young kids coming through now. We have Chloe Reilly who has debuted now for East Fremantle in the league team and she's played two games for us now. 

"I had the pleasure of presenting her jumper to her a couple of weeks ago and seeing her through come through the Youth Girls and then attending the Fremantle training academy over a 10-week program, it's been great seeing her growth. 

"Her skills and confidence out on the footy field has been awesome. Then there are other players Roxy Roux who has proved herself so much in the league this year with some really great grabs, and always coming up on the scoreboard. It's something really awesome to see with those young WA players coming through."